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Jul-22-2008FEMA seeks immunity from suits over trailer fumes(topic overview)
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In the draft strategy, FEMA establishes a National Disaster Housing Task Force, which will be organized in the next two months. The task force will address these difficult housing issues, such as what to use on short notice instead of travel trailers. It will include eight members from state and local housing authorities, FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "We go beyond the point of just kicking this down the road," FEMA's No. 2, Harvey Johnson, told reporters. That would be the case if FEMA didn't establish a housing task force or if the agency had ended the draft strategy after the third chapter. [1] Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was more optimistic about FEMA's draft strategy Monday, commending the agency for creating the housing task force. "This strategy should assure us that survivors will be able to find alternative housing expediently and that disaster housing is indeed temporary," said Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.[1]
FEMA, however, has taken steps to implement parts of the strategy sooner by creating a task force that will focus on disaster housing efforts on a full-time basis.[2]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A year overdue, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a draft disaster housing strategy Monday, which leaves it largely up to the next administration to figure out a way to avoid Hurricane Katrina-like problems that sent victims to toxic trailers. [1] The National Disaster Housing Strategy's primary objectives are to consolidate information about the emergency housing process and outline future plans for improving housing methods, said Admiral Harvey Johnson, a deputy administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.[2]
Federal officials in Washington, D.C., on Monday unveiled a draft plan designed to provide the first comprehensive strategy for securing emergency housing for residents who are displaced by a disaster.[2]
There is a 60-day comment period for the draft strategy, which is important because FEMA did not consult with many interested parties — including the National Emergency Management Association, the organization which represents state emergency managers, during the past two years when it was working on the strategy. The draft strategy includes seven blank annexes which are slated to address major issues such as housing programs for special needs and low-income populations, rehabilitating rental units and a list of potential legislation needed to carry out the strategy. These annexes are currently "under development," according to the draft strategy.[1] Residents of FEMA-issued trailers reported frequent headaches, nosebleeds and other ailments. According to the draft strategy, the government may house disaster victims in trailers only as a last resort, despite promises never to use them again. Only the head of FEMA can approve the use of such trailers, and they would have to meet the agency's standard for low formaldehyde levels.[1] U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt is scheduled to hear FEMA's bid to be dismissed from a series of consolidated cases filed against the federal government and the companies that supplied FEMA with tens of thousands of trailers after Katrina and then Rita in 2005. Lawyers for Gulf Coast storm victims accuse FEMA of negligence for sheltering them in trailers with elevated levels of formaldehyde, a preservative used in construction materials that can induce breathing problems and is believed to cause cancer. In court papers, FEMA's lawyers told the judge the agency is entitled to immunity from such claims challenging its response to disasters such as Katrina.[3] The federal government's lawyers said FEMA spent more than $2.5 billion to purchase more than 140,000 new trailers from recreational vehicle dealers and trailer manufacturers after the storms. They also said the agency relied on manufacturers to furnish the agency with a "safe, habitable, functional product." "It is well-established that the (government) is only liable in such situations if it supervised and directed day-to-day activities of its contractors, which did not occur in this case," they argued in the court papers. The government's lawyers also wrote that a review of legislative history left "no doubt" that Congress intended to enact a broad bar against any such claims arising from disaster relief actions.[3]
Tony Buzbee, one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, said FEMA and the trailer manufacturers "worked hand in hand" after the 2005 hurricanes and should share legal liability in the cases.[3]
The lawsuits contend FEMA ignored concerns about formaldehyde levels in trailers for months after Katrina. "FEMA is right to blame the manufacturers for the production of the toxic trailers, but the agency is not without culpability or legal liability for this debacle," Buzbee said in a written statement Tuesday.[3]
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is requesting immunity from lawsuits filed on behalf of Gulf Coast hurricane victims who claim they were exposed to dangerous fumes while living in government-issued trailers.[3] July 21, 2008 In the first third of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, it's encouraging to see even small signs of preparedness for killer storms. Earlier this month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which did such a subpar job after Hurricane Katrina, did the right thing for Long Island.[4]
After some prodding by our public officials, FEMA is now returning hurricane emergency supplies here. The agency had brought the supplies in two years ago, but took them away after that season ended and didn't return them last year - purportedly because it wanted to create consolidated stockpiles in larger regions. In other good news, the Nassau and Suffolk chapters of the American Red Cross say our storm readiness is better now than it's ever been. This is no time to be complacent.[4] Valetta Simmons, 44, and James Wilson, 56, face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000. The defendants were charged with theft of government money and mail fraud following their claims to FEMA for disaster assistance in the wake of the storm. Simmons claimed that she was living in Texas and was forced to relocate to Buffalo as a result of the hurricane.[5]
"What FEMA delivered today is a strategy without a plan," said Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, one of FEMA's strongest critics regarding disaster housing.[1] Landrieu's Senate oversight committee plans to hold a hearing next week. Among the questions lawmakers will ask FEMA is why this task force wasn't created in 2006.[1]
The judge hasn't ruled on that request yet. The plaintiffs' lawyers said it's premature for Engelhardt to consider dismissing FEMA from the cases. [3] Lawyers for the plaintiffs want Engelhardt to certify the consolidated cases as a class action on behalf of tens of thousands of current and former trailer occupants in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.[3]
SOURCES
1. The Associated Press: FEMA delivers incomplete disaster housing strategy
2. Officials reveal draft plan for displaced residents | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register
3. The Associated Press: FEMA seeks immunity from suits over trailer fumes
4. Ready for a mighty wind -- Newsday.com
5. Two charged in FEMA fraud case - Business First of Buffalo:
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